Solar 31 da Calcada Restaurant, Lisbon

After a busy day strolling around Lisbon and doing the marvellous street art tour, I felt a bit peckish and decided to try the grilled octopus at Solar 31 da Calcada restaurant, and boy what a great decision that was. (It should be mentioned that the area is not particularly up-market. Best not to wave bundles of cash when walking the short distance to the restaurant from A Ginjinha, a historic sweet cherry schnaps street bar near Praca Dom Pedro IV, metro station Rossio). The awesome staff immediately made me feel welcome, despite the fact that I had to talk myself into getting a table, as I didn’t have a reservation, and despite the fact that I must have had a bit of a shabby backpacker look, wearing heavy hiking boots and rain-proof gear (I had left my suitcase in a locker at the station that morning, as I was […]

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Lisbon – Mecca of Street Art

When researching my trip to Lisbon, I came across the local street art pretty early on. Other bloggers and travel sites were reporting an incredibly vital scene and it did not take me long to decide to book a tour. I followed the advice of various travel sites who all recommended Lisbon Street Art Tours (we do not receive any favours for recommending them here). Our guide, can’t remember her name (I’m pretty sure it started with a ‘V’), sorry, was a young lady from Belgium, who studies street art at the local uni and is currently working on her thesis on Lisbon street art. Not only was she pleasant to listen to, with her shy, enthusiastic, bubbly nature, but most of all she obviously had to hold herself back on a constant basis in order not to overwhelm us with the vast knowledge she has accrued about her area […]

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Lisbon Sailing Tour

While in Lisbon for a day last week, Pedro from Pypas Cruises invited BSqB on a 1.5h sailing boat trip. My wife only joined me in Porto a few days later, so I went on the trip on my own together with a young Portuguese couple. Pedro was joined by one of his experienced skippers, Antonio, so it was five of us overall (the maximum is 12 persons/10 guests). If you should do the tour in the morning, too, like I did, then I would highly recommend having breakfast at the world-famous Pastéis de Belém. From there you can cross the Jardim de Belém to the starting point just 15 minutes’ walk away. The UNESCO World Heritage listed, gothic Jerónimos Monastery and the (equally listed) Torre de Belém (Belem Tower) are also next-door. When it was built in the early-16th Century, the tower was towards the middle of the Tagus […]

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Lisbon in a Day

I flew into Lisbon last Friday night and had until the next evening, when my train for Porto (more about Porto here) left at 8pm. I was on my own, as I was only going to be joined in Porto by (first) an old friend of mine and (later) by my wife. Unlike me, my wife had already been to Lisbon, loved it, but preferred to stay in London that weekend and party with her girlfriends. I arrived at the hotel at around midnight and gobbled down a rather rare, but very tasty cheese burger at a nearby bar, before logging off. The next morning I got up at 6am, got myself a sandwich and a coffee to go, then explored the street art near Teatro Maria Vitória, which happened to be walking distance from my hotel. More about Lisbon street art here. Then I took a cab to the […]

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